Thursday, January 5, 2023

Politics or Religion? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 14:1-5,

"At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, 'This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.' Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for John had been saying to him: 'It is not lawful for you to have her.' Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet."

Does this account appear to be political or religious in nature?

It certainly has a political tone in that John threatened Herod's position by accusing him of "impeachable" deeds (taking his brother's wife) creating the potential for resistance to his rule from the people. Additionally, Herod harbored a great concern for not violating the will of the people in taking action against John, "he was afraid of the people". While Herod was the ruler, he nonetheless made attempts to avoid the opposition of the people he ruled. Politics.

On the other hand, the account certainly has its religious tone. John's condemnation of Herod for taking his brother's wife was based in the law God had given Israel. Additionally, Herod recognized the people considered John a prophet of God. Herod also considered Jesus might be John "risen from the dead" after he had beheaded him. Religion.

My position is there is no real distinction between the "political" and the "religious". From a conceptual viewpoint, I recognize a person's politics to be the public expression of their spiritual condition. Differences in political thought do not flow from differences in intelligence or education, but from differences in what a person has given himself to, in a spiritual sense.

Likewise, I see the political turmoil mankind is inevitably engaged in as the outworking of conflict in the spiritual realm on display in the world. "Team Cain" and "Team Abel" whether in the spiritual or temporal context have been in conflict from the opening chapters of the book of Genesis and continue yet today.

For me politics and religion are one and the same. Which team do you play for?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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